I have to admit, it's always more fun when there's some tumble and tussle at the weekly box office. It gets kind of dull when each week the latest, hottest, super-hyped new blockbuster grabs the top spot and then gets knocked off the following week by the next short-lived Big Thing.
So the past few weeks have provided compelling box-office drama for folks who get excited about such things. Over Thanksgiving, New Moon crushed all its competition as expected, but it didn't crush them to death. The Blind Side hung in there on terrific (and surprising) word of mouth and came in a very close second to New Moon last weekend, in both films' second week in release.
And now? The Blind Side has handily moved into first place this past weekend, bringing in $20 million to New Moon's second-place $16 million.
Oh, and in other news…
I called it! I win! I win! I am the King of All Redblog Box-Office Predictions for This Week!!
You see, for those of you who don't pay attention to the on-going film-geek soap opera that is the redblog comments sections, last Monday my esteemed co-blogger Erika said, and I quote, "With few competitive titles opening this coming weekend, will New Moon
be able to pull a threepeat?… If there's one thing we've learned over the past year, it's to
not underestimate the allure of vampires. My money's on the Cullens."
And then I was all like, "I'll TAKE
that bet, Erika! Given how Blind Side is gaining viewers by word of
mouth, how New Moon has drained its rabid fan base, plus the lack of
direct thematic competition for either of them this coming weekend,
Blind Side will most certainly come out on top of New Moon."
And then I made a joke about how cheesy it is to used the verb "eclipsed" when talking about New Moon box office, not remembering that Erika had actually used that very word play in her box-office report, thereby inadvertently calling her a cheeseball, which led to, omg, Erika calling me "Dude" in her comment response, which is how we know when she's really serious. And she also replied, "And the bet is on! I still think New Moon might prevail again."
See all the fun you miss when you don't read the comments? So for those keeping score, I was right and Erika is a cheeseball.
And now, back to the box office.
Of the four new films opening in wide release this past weekend, Brothers performed the best, coming in third with almost $10 million. Armored was in sixth with nearly $7 million. (My review of Armored is on its way.)
Everybody's Fine was in 10th place. Like The Blind Side, expect Everybody's Fine to do better in coming weeks on strong word of mouth–it was personally a little too sappy for my taste, but De Niro has some powerful scenes, the supporting cast is strong, and people seem to really be responding emotionally to the film.
And then there was Transylmania, which after making phone calls to folks in the know, we have determined is a real film. Actually, the horror spoof is in fact Dorm Daze 3, filmed in 2007, never released, and now retitled and released to cash in on the vampire craze. So all of you who loved National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze and still didn't get enough Dorm Dazing with the DTV Dorm Daze 2, well, here you go. Transylmania opened on 1,007 screens and brought in $274,000, for $272 per screen. That means that at each theater across the land, about 35 people paid actual money to watch Transylmania this weekend. Not counting teenagers under 17 who bought tickets to New Moon and then snuck into the R-rated Transylmania.
If you're wondering, that may or may not make Transylmania the worst box-office flop ever. That title has been held for the past year by last December's Delgo, which made only $900,000. However, Delgo opened on more than 2,000 screens, making it officially a "wide release." Because Transylmania was only on 1,000 screens, it could be counted as a sort of halfway "limited" release. Still you could argue that if you cut Delgo's number of screens and its box-office in half you'd have a $450,000 opening, which is still much better than Transylmania.
Jason Reitman's excellent Up In the Air starring George Clooney, only opened on 15 screens this weekend (it goes wide on Christmas Day), but it still managed to land in 13th place with a very strong $79,000 per-screen average. That gives the bittersweet rom-dramedy from the director of Juno some nice momentum as it heads into Oscar season as a strong front runner.
The rest of the top 10 was filled out by A Christmas Carol at fourth, still doing solid business as families hit the malls for seasonal shopping, Old Dogs in fifth, then 2012, Ninja Assassin, and Planet 51. Yes, two of the worst films I've seen this fall–Old Dogs and Planet 51–are still in the top 10, while one of the best films I've seen of late–Fantastic Mr. Fox–slipped down to 11th. Trust me, when Fox eventually gets to DVD next year a lot of folks are going to see it and say, "Wow, this is really, really wonderful! Why didn't we go see this in the theater?" It'll be the Iron Giant thing all over again.
This coming weekend will go to the frogs as Disney opens wide its return to old-school ink-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog. Also opening wide this weekend will be another heavy Oscar-favorite, Clint Eastwood's Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela.
Posted on December 7, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Yep, ya got me. Not only am I the worst box-office predictor ever, I’m also a cheeseball. The latter is a title I carry with pride, however. The former… not so much. I’ll keep on keepin’ on with my predictions, though, especially when they’re really easy. Like this weekend. Princess and the Frog will win. (It WILL, won’t it? Please, Box-Office Gods?)
While I am surprised that the Twihards didn’t rally to the cause this past weekend, I couldn’t be happier that New Moon lost to the likes of The Blind Side, rather than one of the many weak choices currently in theaters. I’m not a poor loser, so I got that goin’ for me.
- Erika
Posted on December 7, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I’ll take that bet again! I’m gonna say that America’s silent majority of rugby fans are going to get out to the theaters and push Invictus to the top of the box office!
No, no, I kid. Too much nog… Yes, Princess and the Frog will easily “hop over” all competition this weekend. (See what I did there? I stole your cheesy thunder! ‘Cause you KNOW you were gonna use that as your box-office headline next Monday! Bwahahaha!)
Even I know better than to ever bet against any sort of Disney animation. The Mouse knows how to put tiny butts in seats.
Posted on December 8, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Well, New Moon hasn’t taken off, because, well… the direction, cinematography, and character design/make-up are a real letdown compared to the first Twilight film.
My hubby and I were avid fans of the first movie, and read all of the books because of it. After falling in love with the look and feel of the first film, we were greatly disappointed with this one. The hair and those hokey eyes were TERRIBLE.
Plus, the second book didn’t have a lot going on, so they really had their work cut out for them. I think word of mouth is sinking it, to be honest.
I blame it on the different director. Why’d they get rid of the director who did Twilight, anyway? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – as the old saying goes.
Posted on December 8, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I personally am overjoyed that the Blindside has done as good as it has, being a true and compelling story. As for Twilight the frenzy has all but drowned what a true vampire movie is, only making me re-watch the Underworld films just to know there is still hope out there for good Vampire/Werewolf films. But now we can only look forward to future and I don’t know about the rest of you but Legion is looking to be a great movie! But I could be wrong seeing as it’s story line has biblical ties, tainted by hollywood slash artist that can only do no more than tick off a good 90% of the United States Christian population. But still looks good if the plot isn’t to thick and confusing.
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Personally, I’m glad the entire “New Moon” frenzy is over as well. My entire family is obsessed with this character “Edward” and insist on buying t-shirts and posters to fill their walls as if they are still in their teenage years.
Yesterday I was asked to see “New Moon” and I turned the opportunity down… I’ll wait for my family to buy the movie and then I might watch it… for freee!
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I didn’t go see the first “Twilight” movie because word of mouth reviews were that it was bad! So, why would I even go see subsequent “bad” films.
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 5:57 pm
The Blind Side should be the first film that makes it to the box-office, Twilight should be second, no offense. Here is the official website of the film.
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:37 pm
The blind side is #1
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Yes, The Blind Side is #1, I agree